Fashion fish
by WOKgeotobi
Summary: Quinn has his own ways of dealing with life in the FAYZ, unfortunately Albert has his too. Quinn never really stood a chance. Oneshot friendship fic.


**Thanks for clicking on this little story of mine XXX Sorry for any bad spelling, please reveiw!**

Fashion fish

Quinn had never talked to Albert before the FAYZ. He was too cool to hang around with people like him. Not that Albert was a nerd or anything, he just wasn't a surfer. Quinn was easy and cool and pulled of trends with effortless ease. Albert was just some guy who always sat reading, with mundane cheap clothing. He definitely wasn't stylish. Not that style mattered much anymore, not since the FAYZ. That didn't mean Quinn let himself go though. At first he struggled adjusting to new life, unlike Albert who flowered. But since he stared his new life as a fisherman, fashion was coming back to him. It stared with simple things, like picking certain colors that match, rather than throwing on what ever he could like most people. Then things got coded. Monday's were all about the color red, Tuesday's wristbands and watches. Wednesdays, everything shiny and Thursdays the color green. On Friday's he wore his favorite sneakers and the weekends were all about patterns. Stripy, spotty, chequered or whatever, all shirts were patterned. The fact he had an endless wardrobe helped. So many houses just left open. Some houses he went in even had designer brands! Half of his room was sectioned off because he had so many clothes piled in the corner. His hat was his most favourite possession. Back in the old days his hat was his life and joy, and Quinn has not realised until he ran into a skull patterned, double sticker, new era hat, while rummaging through houses that he missed his old hat. He searched and searched for his hat and eventually found it outside the school. It was pretty muddy and dulled in colour. No, no, this hat won't do, he thought to himself. So found him a new one. His old self would have cried over how bad it was, but his new self loved it. It just said _fisherman _all over it. It was made of wicker and provided shade at all angles. He'd never seen a man under forty wear one, but it called to him. Not to mention he could pull of anything.

He had to wear it.

So Quinn the fisherman became Quinn the stylish fisherman. Not that anyone noticed, everyone was too busy with their own problems. He didn't have any friends to talk about how he felt. He had his fishing crew, and Sam, but they weren't his friends, only his acquaintances. His hat was his best friend in a way. He could talk to it all day while fishing and it would listen to all his problems. It would never judge him; always listen silently as if encouraging him to continue. It kept him warm in the chilly weather and supported him in the bad times. He really did love his hat. So it goes to say the day he lost it he cried.

He searched everywhere. His room was turned upside down by the time he had finished. The house he and Albert shared was practically destroyed. It was incredibly early as he had to go fishing soon so Albert was still asleep in his room. They decided it would be easier to share a house, seen as Quinn always went to Albert strait anyway to give him the days produce and sharing a house made deliveries and communication easier. Quinn didn't get a chance to asked Albert where his hat was as he had to leave, but cried all the way to the boats. His crew ignored his tears as they set off into the water. He wasn't the first person to randomly start crying, it was a common sight nowadays. It was best to ignore it.

After a long days work, with very little fish caught, everyone's boats landed gently on the beach. Quinn stumbled out of his and headed towards the plaza. Usually he would go strait home, but he needed to find his hat. After half an hour looking, his hat was still nowhere to be found. It wasn't on the floor, or at the school, or in the shops. It was truly lost. He felt his eyes burn with the bitter sting of tears, but this time held them in. He trudged home defeated, throwing the days product on the floor and collapsing on the sofa.

"Long day?"

"Huh?" Quinn looked up to see Albert sitting at the table, legs up and putting berto's in small piles.

"You're late. Was it a long day?"

"Kind off." Quinn decided not to tell Albert about his hat. He wouldn't understand. In fact he would probably mock him for getting so upset about it.

"Don't forget to put the fish in the freezer." Albert reminded him, knocking down a pile of berto's and starting again.

"Sure. Whatever."

"Dude are you alright, you seem kind of grumpy. Plus it's Thursday and you're wearing yellow."

"Just get off my case Albert! Can't a guy have a bad day?"

"Whoa, no need to snap!"

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight." He glared in Albert's direction and left the room.

The next day Quinn automatically reached out for his hat as he woke up, but his fingers groped pathetically at the air before remembering he no longer had it. He slipped on a trashed pair of trainers and left the house for the beach. He concluded, if he had lost his hat, it had probably fallen in the ocean while fishing. On the journey out across the water he looked hard for the glimmer of yellow that his hat would make if it rested in it's depths. There was nothing, so he spend the day once again in agony. On the way back as he was dragging the nets behind him he spotted it out of the corner of his eye. Yellow. Just a spec of it on the ocean floor. It looked only about ten feet down, he could definitely reach it if he jumped. Looking around he noticed the others concentrated on their rowing. Good, they wouldn't see him jump. He poised himself on the edge of the boat and dived in. The cool water hit him full in the face but he swam down as hard as he could, almost getting to the bottom. But where was it? There was nothing yellow down here, only the grey sand of the ocean floor. He panicked, which in his surfers experience was the worst thing to do as all his breath came out in one go and he struggled to breath. The water pounded down of him, suffocating him. He tried to figure which way was up but his oxygen starved brain couldn't make sense of it all. The last thing he remembered was blacking out.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"What?" Quinn replied groggily, just regaining consciousness.

"What were you thinking! Are you suicidal?"

"I don't... what are you talking...what?" Quinn started to take in his surrounding and noted he was in Darha's makeshift hospital.

"You just jumped right into the ocean! That water was at least 30 feet deep! If one of your crew hadn't noticed your boat almost capsizing and dived in to save you, you would have died!" Albert yelled at him.

"I'm sorry." He muttered, staring at his hands so he didn't have to make eye contact.

"Why did you do it?"

"I thought I saw something in the water."

"What? So you just _jumped _in to get it, letting all your produce fall into the water at the same time."

"What produce?"

"The fish you idiot, all of the fish on your boat was lost! I had hardly anything to sell to the people today!"

"That's all you care about! FISH! I just nearly killed myself and all you care about is _fish_!"

"At least I'm not moping around, crying my eyes out because I can't find my _hat_!" Quinn forgot all the points he was going to throw at Albert and looked at him dumbfounded.

"What?"

"Oh you think I haven't noticed. Well I have. Yesterday morning with you were trampling all around the house, yelling 'where's my hat! Where's my hat!' and your fishing crew told me all about your crying. I have them tell me everything about you." Albert made a face which showed he had said too much so he changed the topic. "You're ill Quinn! Obsessing over a hat! And last night I tried to talk to you about it and you just shouted me down! Well you know what Quinn; I had your hat all along. You'd dropped it outside my door and I moved it so I wouldn't accidently step on it. And do you know what else, I sold it."

Quinn looked at Albert in horror. "YOU SOLD MY HAT!""

"Yes. You need to get over it. You need to stop being so vain." Quinn lunged at Albert and grabbed him by the neck.

"You sold my hat, you bastard!" Albert tried to pull Quinn's fingers off but it was an impossible task. Quinn shook him violently and shoved him into the wall. Albert tried to yell for help but his airways were constricted.

"_Quinn. S...stop."_

Quinn glared at him, teeth gritted, when someone suddenly screamed. He dropped Albert immediately and looked around.

"Albert!" Dahra came running up to him, bending down to examine his neck.

f"What the hell is wrong with you?" Dahra spat at Quinn. Quinn stared at her then ran for the door. He found his way blocked by Orc.

"You just tried to kill Albert." Dahra hissed at him.

"He sold my hat!"

"Orc, take him to the council. I guess we have a chance to try out our new laws." Orc grabbed Quinn and painfully threw him over his shoulder.

"Hey!"

He sat, fidgeting, under the accusing eyes of the jury. He was sitting in the middle of the town hall while Howard was at the top podium, addressing everyone.

"And so, according to rule 5 of our laws, I quote 'anyone who commits a crime –stealing or hurting someone- will be accused and then tried by a jury of 6 kids'. Quinn here has been accused of _viscously_ attacking and strangling Albert, the guy who started our economy and gave us food to eat." Quinn glared at Howard. Any other time Howard would constantly put down Albert, not praise him. It was only because Howard hated Quinn he made Albert seem like a hero. "So Quinn, what have you got to say for yourself?"

Quinn didn't reply at first, he just stared around the make-shift court. The jury comprised of three people he didn't know, Tom, who one of his fishing crew, Edilio and Dahra. Well if Dahra was there then that was one vote defiantly against him. But at least Tom would back him. Or would he? Albert wasn't there, apparently he was too busy. Of course he was busy, he was _always_ busy. Busy selling his possessions!

"He sold my hat." Quinn replied,

Howard laughed.

"So you tried to kill him. Of, this is classic!"

"But... I need my hat."

"No, Quinn. No you don't. I think this will be an easy case, would the jury please come to a decision."

They discussed it for a while and eventually Dahra stepped forward.

"The jury has agreed on guilty." She smiled.

"Great! Okay so I think about, uummm, 5 weeks in prison with no pay sounds about right. Seen as you're a fisherman and important for food I'll make it 3 weeks." Most of the jury nodded in agreement with Howard.

"Take him away Orc!" Orc grabbed him and slung him over his shoulder again.

"I can walk you know." Quinn sighed.

One week into prison and Quinn had turned insane with boredom. He was kept in a room, guarded by two of Edilio's soldiers and not allowed out. He had resorted to finding some charcoal on the floor, drawing a picture of a hat on the wall and talking to it. He was in the middle of telling the hat about his opinion of wireless internet when Albert entered the room.

"Quinn." Albert said seriously.

"Go away."

"I've got something for you." Albert took out a stripy jumper from behind him.

"What the hell, why are you giving me this?"

"It's the weekend.

"And why would that..." then Quinn suddenly remembered that he always wore patterned stuff at the weekend.

"Err... thanks." Albert took a seat down on the floor next to Quinn and both sat in silence. Quinn wondered how Albert knew. No one else noticed what he wore.

"I didn't sell you're hat."

"What?"

"I didn't actually sell you're hat. I just said it to annoy you. But in all honesty I didn't expect you to try and kill me!

"You...you..." Quinn felt like being angry but couldn't bring himself to be.

"Do you... forgive me?" Albert asked. Quinn thought about this for a minute.

"Why are you asking _me_ to forgive _you_? I'm the one who tried to kill you! Not to mention how the hell do you know what I like to wear everyday? And, actually, yeah, how come when I was at the hospital you said you had my fishing crew report everything about me to you? What's up with that? Are you stalking me or something?" Albert looked like he had been backed into a corner.

"I just... I just wanted a friend."

"Eh?"

"I just wanted you to be my friend.

"What do you mean? I _am _you're friend."

"Really?" Albert's face lit up, as if he had just won a million 'Bertos.

"Err, yeah. Of course brah."

Albert had never had any friends, even before the FAYZ. He had his brothers and sisters, but he never really liked them that much. At school he would sit alone and read, hoping someone would come and say hi to him.

They never did.

He noticed all the kids, the way they talked and laughed together, and wanted that too. When the FAYZ happened he thought for a while that maybe he would make some new friends, especially as he was running McDonalds. It made him popular, sure, but kids still didn't talk to him. Only about food, which got boring after a while. Sam and Astrid disliked him because they thought he was greedy, when all he wanted was to start an economy going. Once it was finally going, kids still stayed away. They were thankful, but kept their distance. He supposed he just wasn't a people person. But Albert was not the type of person to give up on what he wanted. He wanted a friend. Someone who he could talk with, gossip with, hang out with. Someone who he could share food with, and help out when times got bad.

It just so happened, Quinn was the target.

In essence, he stalked the fisherman. Observing all his mannerisms, his speech patterns, what he liked, what he didn't, who his friends where, who his friends weren't. He was even the one to suggest that Quinn moved in with him, for convenience sake. He paid the fishing crew an extra 'Berto and week to tell him what Quinn was doing. It had taken him a while to notice Quinn's fashion quirks, but once he did he made sure to remember the clothing for every day. He also noticed his hat. Something about his hat irked Albert to no end. Just the way Quinn looked at it infuriated him! How could someone like a _hat _so much? It was stupid, he knew, to have a passionate burning hate for a hat, but by god he did. That hat was all that stood between him and Quinn being friends. He knew it. It was his nemesis. So late one night when Quinn was asleep, he sneaked into his room and took the hat. It wasn't too hard to find, he kept it on the table right next to his bed. He hid it in his own room, under his pillow.

Quinn smiled. Friend. He hadn't used that word in a long time when describing someone. He didn't realise Albert was his friend until the words came right out of his mouth. The idea of him being his friend had completely passed his mind. Although it sounded dumb, his hat had given him company when he needed it, and made him oblivious to the outside world. He saw it now. Although, it still didn't change the fact he was slightly creeped out by the stalking. Hopefully that would change.

"Ah, I've got to go." Albert said, suddenly standing up, "You know, stuff to sell and everything. I'll get your hat tomorrow if you like."

"Don't worry brah. I don't think I need it anymore."


End file.
